Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-17-Speech-3-173"
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"en.20031217.6.3-173"2
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"Mr President, I feel that Mr Hatzidakis’ joke about the laborious nature of the task for all the Members of Parliament is the most concise, and also the best description of the work that has been carried out. It was a difficult task in that we were working on a temporary basis with a Council that was often careless, heedless and given to putting off addressing or resolving issues until the last minute. In conciliation, a balance was struck which made sense to all the institutions. It is a balance between two requirements, which I would like to set out: on the one hand, the need to ensure the free movement of goods and compliance with Treaty, and, on the other – something to which Parliament, just like Austria, attaches great importance – the need to protect the environment and people’s health. That means striving for sustainable development which, to address the problem earlier on in the process of pollution, must be achieved through intermodality, the development of rail tunnels and favouring rail transport over lorries.
In its wisdom, Parliament steered clear of simplistic solutions which certain elements with extreme views advocated in the debate: those defending carriers, on the one hand, and those defending the environment and health, on the other. That is not the way things are as Mr Lisi said too. The conciliation conclusions appear to highlight a number of points which give great consideration to the needs of Austria, first and foremost the fact that the last extension, which was set to end definitively at 31 December 2003, has been superseded by another extension which will take us up to the end of 2006.
The Commissioner pointed out that, while the most polluting lorries will continue to circulate throughout Europe, Austria will be preserved from a
situation which other countries continue to suffer. As Austria has requested, the application of this regulation and of the ecopoint system has been extended to the whole of the country of Austria, not just the Alpine passes; above all, the option of quotas, decided on at the proposal of the Commission, which has done an excellent job, is the option which comes closest to meeting Austria’s demands.
The Commission is to be commended for its work and Parliament is to be commended for the balance it has displayed in performing this difficult task. We are told that Austria wishes to stop benefiting from the exception made for it thus far. We hope that this does not happen and that due consideration is given to the excellent quality of Parliament’s work. For these reasons, after two years of work, I can inform you that our group will vote for the conclusions reached in conciliation."@en1
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